Asbestus steam-packing



Umrna Snares PATENT Orrrcn.

WILLIAM ARMSTRONG FRIES, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

ASBESTUS STEAM-PACKING.

SPECIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 295,749, dated March 25, 1884.

Application filed January 31, 1883 lb aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, WM. ARMSTRONG Frans, a citizen of the United Statearesiding at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gland-Packings; and I do hereby declare the following to be a 'sufficiently full, clear, and exact description there of to enable others skilled in the art to make and use the said invention,

This invention relates to that class of steam gland packings made from asbestus strands or yarns. a

Heretofore steam-packings made from as bestus strands or yarns have been made by the side-drawing operation of a card, which can only make a thick heavy strand, and by I which process the asbestus splints remaining in the asbestus stock after carding, together with sand or grit, are twisted in and carried along with the asbestus fiber into the strands or yarns, which splints and grit are objectionable in packings, and, by cutting, veryinjurious to piston-rods, and the strands being thick and heavy, it is impracticable to twist them hard, and, being soft, have but very little strength, makes them difficult to make into packings, and when packing made from such yarns is placed in a stuffing-box it becomes inelastic and soggy.

The object of my invention is to provide a packing composed entirely or in the main of fine hard spun or twisted yarns, which yarns may be of pure asbestus or other mineralfibers; or saidyarn may contain a central organic core or thread, or said yarn may be composed of asbestus or other mineral fibres, combined-in mixture with other organic fibers-such as cotton,wool, linen, jute, hemp, silk, and like materialbut should be mainly of asbestus; but, for convenience of description, I shall call the stock as described above as simply asbestus stock, and the bestus yarn.

Figure l of the drawings shows a piece of packing in perspective; Fig. 2, a cross-section, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal section.

To carry my invention into effect, I card the asbestus stock by the usual mode. It is then placed on a woolen finishing card, which forms it into slubbing, which is then placed in a self-operating or hand mule,- or it may be yarn made therefrom as- (Model.)

| spun on a spinningjack or like machine and spun into yarn. During the process of spinning, and while the carriage of the mule or jack is being drawn out, the strands begin to twirl, and do so for considerable time' after the carriage is out, until sufficient twist is put in the yarn. The slubbing made on the finishing-card, not having any twist put in it before being placed in a mule or jack, and being much finer, will stand a great deal more twirl. This twirl has the eifect of throwing off the asbestus splints, sand, and gritty matter, objectionable in packings, remaining after the carding process, by the centrifugal force developed by the twirl in spinning.

Yarn made by this process is more uniform in thickness and in strength, and can be made much finer than by the side-drawing process; hence it may be harder twisted, which prevents the packing made from it from becoming loose, inelastic, and impacted. Being fine hard spun or twisted strands, when placed in a stuffing-box and pressure is brought against it by screwing up the gland, the strands roll on each other and press out laterally against the rod, making it an effectively elastic pack lng.

Yarn made by this process is stronger, therefore involves less waste and loss of time from facture of packings from yarns made by a sidedrawing process. It can be woven into cloth for gasket-packing, woven or braided into tape or ribbon for gasketpacking, or formed into rope packing or for braiding packings, or for making solid braided packings, or for hollow braided packings, or any other kind or variety of packing other than wick packing.

I am aware that rod-packings have been made, as appears in English Letters Patent wherein parallel or slightly-twisted strands of asbestus were covered by thick strands of warp-threads longitudinally woven thereon, withacircumferentialweft-thread. Suchpackings are objectionable, because large strands of asbestus are incapable of being hard twisted or spun byreason of their. large diameter, and by absorption of water become soggy and impacted by the pressure of r the gland, and fail to press laterally against the rod, while hardbreaking strands than is incurred in the manu- No. 3,392 of 1881, to Allport and Hollings,

spun yarns of asbestus roll on each other, and

are thus forced against the rod when the gland I \Vhat I claim isis screwed down; and, further, such packings I As an improved article of manufacture, a 15 of large strands include splints or harsh parsteamrod packing made entirely from fine ticles of asbestos and gritty foreign matter, hard-spun asbestusyarns inclosed in a braided which are thrown off and rejected by the cencovering of similar yarns, as set forth and detrifugal force generated by the twirling motion scribed.

in spinning fine yarns of asbestos. Neither is it practicable to interlock the fibers of heavy WM. ARMSTRONG FRIES. yarns by twisting, as in fine hard-spun yarns, and as a consequence the loose fibers of the \Vitnesses:

J. DANIEL EBY, LINN WHEELER.

packing formed of heavy yarns blow out of the stuffing-box through the gland. Said packings of heavy yarns I hereby disclaim; but 

